Howto aptitude

From LinuxNewbie

Aptitude is an ncurses frontend for apt. Since the key commands are bit obscure this is a short howto to ease the pain.

Aptitude does not require root to run, as it will request the root password when you tell it to fetch the requested packages. So lets start aptitude:

$ aptitude

The first thing you should do is update your cache of available packages if you haven't in a while (or don't know what this means). press u

To search for a package, press / and type the name of the package in the box. I will search for nano.
/nano and hit enter.
It finds the first matching package. If this isn't correct, you can find the next package that matches with \.

When you find the package you want + will add it to the list to get or - will remove it.

At the top it reports how large the download will be and the amount of space difference with the new package. It will also tell you if another package is broken because of a dependancy or such. Use the b to find the next broken package, and the bottom will tell you why it is broken.

When you have marked the packages you want, press g to review the list. Packages being removed are magenta (purple), added are green, and white letters with black background indicate a package that a new version is available but not queued for download. You can add new packages by using + or upgrade them all with U (capital U).

When you are done reviewing, press g again to get the packages. Aptitude will remove broken packages, prompt for a root password if needed, and proceed to download and install the packages.